2010-12-14

Took a day trip to do some hiking along the Uchibo Line and the southern end of Chiba. Got off at JR Takeoka Station - cats and spiders all over the place. This is the famed source for Takeoka ramen - Umenoya. The pork is cut from a long fatty grilled block. The noodles are actually dry cup ramen or dry block ramen noodles - "kanmen", taken from dry ramen packs, could not see the name. It's a very informal shop with shared tables and a small zashiki area. It takes a long while (for me about 30 mins) to get the ramen, even though you preorder and there are 5 obachan's working the place, only about 20 seats. It's a very dark shoyu type broth - Takeoka-style with a lot of chopped onions, much darker and richer than ordinary shoyu, almost starting to get brownish-red. I strongly recommend the chopped negi's. The little street that you wait on is very narrow and even on a weekday, you should expect a line. There's a very small menu on the window near the door. After eating you can have a nice walk north along the coast from Takeoka, continuing up to Kazusaminato Station. Hard to say whether it's worth it for people who live in Tokyo - this is the greater part of a day trip, perhaps combine it with something else.

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This web blog is for people who a) live in Tokyo, or are planning to visit Tokyo, b) love ramen, and c) do not read enough Japanese to be able to understand Japanese ramen web sites. This web site is only about Tokyo ramen, and it will give you all the information you need to enjoy ramen in Tokyo. If it doesn't have anything to do with ramen, it's not on this site. Enjoy!